Two local artists will turn a boarded-up West Lafayette building into an inspirational story and turn flaws in city streets and building walls into pieces of art.

Alexandria Monik of West Point will turn the windows and doors of the former Where Else? bar on the northwest corner of State Street and Northwestern Avenue into a series of panels, like a storyboard.

"It will liven this community," said Craig Martin, chairman of the West Lafayette Public Arts Team. "It will ... turn a negative space ... into a landmark — someplace where you'll go and look for it.

"She is going to be creating essentially a storyboard, filling each of those frames with a story ... about letting people into your life and how it can change your world."

"A lot of times ... boarded-up windows are the first indicator of decay," Mayor John Dennis said. "There's reasons why there are boards on the windows, and it's a temporary thing."

The building was to be developed into a mixed-use space, with retail in the basement and first floor and apartments on the upper floors, but the project has hit some snags.

For her work, Monik will be paid $1,500 and receive $500 for supplies, Martin said.

Meanwhile, paintings of whimsical hands pinched around a window or pointing to a flaw in the road or a door on a wall will begin to dot the cityscape around the Village and the Levee. Aaron Bumgarner of Lafayette will create these smaller pieces of art, which will be in the public right-of-way — or on private property, if permission is granted.

"I've always drawn hands and been fascinated by hands," he said. "Each one is going to be different. I want them to interact with the environment."

Bumgarner's project is part of the city's "tiny spaces" program, a sister program of Lafayette's small spaces art project. It's the first time he's been hired to work as an artist.

"It could be a big deal for me," he said.

Shaw said, "Basically, both of them are small installations (of art) hidden around town, and at the end of September, we will ... have an online treasure hunt where you try to go find all of the installations."

Bumgarner will receive $3,000 for his project.

Both artists are expected to have their projects finished by the end of September, Shaw said, in time for autumn art events.